Tell me what you think...

[kryptonite]

This is my 15gal that I started on 03/01/02.  So far I have a false percula, a bi-color blenny, an emerald crab, a coral banded shrimp, a peppermint shrimp, a orange knobby star, 6 astreas, and 6 blue legged hermits.  The only coral that I have so far is the green star polyps pictured below.  I have a few pieces of dead coral, about 20 lbs of live rock (15 from fiji, and the other 5 from the marshall islands.)  I also have 20 lbs of live sand and a few lbs of crushed shells on top.

 

My lighting consists of a diy hood holding 2 40w vho's, one actinic white and one super actinic blue.  1 36w pc 50/50 retrofit kit, and one 15w 20,000k bulb.  I really really want to try to keep some sps's.  Tell me what you think and give me any suggestions you may have.  I am also open to constructive critisism... I am new to this hobby so please teach me something.  Here are some pics...thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mattdog]

Looks great!  Hope it works out for ya!  Keep us posted.

[My Alife 7]

Looks great! Can we a pic of you diy hood?

[kryptonite]

Here are a few pics of the hood/canopy.  This is the best I could do for now.  Yes that is aluminum foil...haha.  The pc retro and the normal output are in the back. you can see half of the pc.  I'm not using the 2 vho's until my fan gets here.  I tried today and my tank went from 78 to 83 with all the lights on.  By the way, since i'm only putting in one fan should it blow onto the lights or be used as an exhaust.  

 

Thanks...here are the pics

 

 

 

[NanoReefer53]

I don't think you need the foil with URI bulbs. They have internal reflectors already. Another thing is the fans for exhaust. As a neighbor reefer of mine said, if you use it for and exahust, you'll pulling out salt laden air. Because of that, you're fan bearings/metal parts will rust a whooollee lot faster so it's better just to have 2 blowing in and have the back of vent holes on top where the hot air can escape.

[Christopher Marks]

Thanks for sharing your tank Kryptonite!  It looks very nice.  How long are those VHO's?

[kryptonite]

Thanks for the info nanoreefer53.  I will take it off.  I don't know why i put it on in the first place.  I didn't think I needed it.  

 

Chris, thanks for replying.  It's good to be a new member.  I've been reading on this message board for about a month and just realized that it was free to post pics and messages.  I've learned a lot from this site so I thank you for that.  The vho's are 18in 40w and they are made by URI.  I got them from here the site listed below.

 

http://www.coralreefexpress.com/fluorescen...htm#Bulbs%20VHO

 

Thanks again everyone, it's nice to get feedback.

[tosi]

Hey kryptonite, im just wondering what ballast you use to power your vho's.

[kryptonite]

Here is the address to the ballast.  I ordered it off of hellolights.com

 

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/lamps-now/2lampvhokit.html

 

Thanks

[Drysocket]

Looks great!  

 

How are the coral banded and the peppermint shrimp together.  Do they fight with each other?   I heard somewhere that those two wouldn't get along.

[kryptonite]

I heard the same thing.  My peppermint was in there first and then I added the CBS.  At first I think they had it out a little but I didn't see it.  I think it was at night.  The peppermint lost all of his antennae but they rapidly grew back.  Since then I've had no trouble between the two.  The peppermint stays all the way to the right under the rubble of rock that you see.  And you see where the CBS stays.  They are fine together now that they've worked out their differences.

[fish04]

Nicelook to the tank, but I checked out your Hellolights link andfound you paid $129.99 just for the ballast. Not for nothing, but you could have made two  PC hoods with 72W of PC light for the same cost of your hood (which would have been plenty of light). I have had VHO's in the past, and found that they tend to be expensive, and my corals just didn't grow as well under them. I am not putting down your setup, it looks good, but you could have saved some cash. I hope they work for you. Good Luck!

[kryptonite]

DOH!!!

[kryptonite]

But that ballast supports up to 440w!  When I get my larger tank i'm putting it on there.  I take back the doh.    HEHE

 

Thanks for the responses

[kryptonite]

Here is an update on my tank.  I got a small colony of xenia, and I finally got my fan!! Now I can use my vho's!!  I'm soooo excited.  Well here are the pic's;

 

 

 

Close-up of xenia

 

 

Another close-up of xenia

 

 

Looking in the left side of the tank

 

 

This one is with the flash

 

 

This one is without the flash

 

 

Thanks everybody!!

[Cam barr]

nice tank i was just doing some reaserch on vhos  whats the life on yours my friend had some and he had to replace them all the time he now has a metal halide same as mine and lives it but really nice tank love the lr

[kryptonite]

Can anyone identify this particular type of xenia??

thanks